Interview with Petter Schanke Olsen Designer of Crown & Courage from Tompet Games

We have played 2 of Tompet Games previously released games with the only not having been played called Kill the King from 2016. First was Donning the Purple, which is an asymmetrical king of the hill game with a bit of worker placement that deals with the players managing the glory of wealthy and powerful Roman families, and their second game called Halls of Hegra, which is a solitaire-only wargame in the same vein as Euro-based games such as Robinson Crusoe, This War of Mine and Dead of Winter. The mechanics include worker placement, bag building, and area control/tower defense and the goal of the game is to survive wave after wave of German troops as they assault the secluded mountain fortress at Hegra.

Both of these games are excellent and they are now embarking on their fourth game called Crown & Courage that tells the story of the German invasion of Norway in 1940 and the royal family’s defiance and ultimate escape from the country to avoid capture and funding of the German war machine. We asked the designer Petter Schanke Olsen if he would be up for one of our interviews and he was more than happy to share.

If you are interested in Crown & Courage, you can learn more about the project and back it on the Kickstarter page at the following link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tompet/crown-and-courage

Grant: Petter welcome to the blog. First off please tell us a little about yourself. What are your hobbies? What’s your day job?

Petter: Thank you for having me. It’s an honor to be featured here. I have been a big fan of The Player´s aid for many years.

I’m a 40 year old geek from Norway. I’m very interested in history. Mainly WWII and Ancient Rome. So I try my best to make games from those eras.

During my day job I work for the government, making educational material for kids who are deaf or hard of hearing. My main area is video production.

Grant: What motivated you to break into game design? What have you enjoyed most about the experience thus far?

Petter: I have always liked to make things. One day, many years ago, I was thinking about flanking on medieval battlefields and thought that would make an interesting game mechanic. I made a small prototype for a boardgame based around that called Kill the King. 6 months later I ran a small but successful Kickstarter for it and I have never looked back. The feeling of seeing random people enjoying a game I have made is very rewarding.

Grant: What is your upcoming game Crown & Courage about?

Petter: Crown & Courage is a solo game where you step into a desperate race against time as Norway collapses under the pressure of the German invasion during the early days of WWII. Your goal is to guide the King and the royal family to safety while evacuating as much of the nation’s gold as possible.

Grant: Why was this a subject that drew your interest?

Petter: When I was 18 I spent a year in the royal guard here in Norway and during that period we learned a lot about these events. I have always wanted to make a game about this subject but I have been skeptical about doing games based on Norwegian history because it is a little known story internationally. After seeing the international success of our previous game, Halls of Hegra, I realized that I don’t need to worry about that so here we go!

Grant: What is your design goal with the game?

Petter: My design goal for this game is the same as all my other games. I want the player to feel the same level of stress and weight of making the right decisions with limited resources as the real people in history. In Donning the Purple for example, a game about being the roman emperor, I wanted the players to feel the burden of everyone trying to kill you so they could be the new emperor. In Crown & Courage I want the player to feel the pressure of seeing the Germans advance through Norway, trying to capture you and occupy the towns while you have to make hard decisions about what to do next.

Grant: What from the German invasion of Norway in 1940 was most important to model?

Petter: It was important to model how poorly prepared and equipped the Norwegian army was for an invasion. The Norwegian troops in the game for example, can only defend and not counter attack. But they were good at slowing down the enemy by sabotage, and that is a big part of the game (and also one of my favorite mechanics)!

Grant: What sources did you consult about the details of the history? What one must read source would you recommend?

Petter: I have read several books about the topic and biographies of King Haakon. But I would actually recommend watching a movie about the same topic called The King’s Choice. It’s great!

Grant: What is the goal of the game?

Petter: To reach safety with the royal family at the northern part of the map. And at the same time successfully evacuate Norway’s gold reserves. Historically the evacuated gold was used to fund the government in exile and the Norwegian trade fleet.

Grant: What is the layout of the board?

Petter: The two main components of the board are the map over southern Norway and the grid where you place your actions. There are also other minor tracks and systems. I also try to include much of the rules on the board itself so you don’t have to look in the rulebook all the time. This aids the players in playing the game.

Grant: How important are the cities and what happens when they become German occupied?

Petter: The cities are very important. If all of them are occupied you lose the game! Every time a city is occupied you have to resolve everything that is revealed on the Occupation Track, and that becomes increasingly bad as each new city is occupied.

Grant: How do the Norwegian troops defend against the Germans?

Petter: The battle system is kind of like our first game Donning the Purple. The Germans only move forward into battle if they have more strength than you. You can however spend action cards to boost your strength. You can also choose to spend extra morale in each battle to make a valiant defense and take out more German soldiers.

Grant: Can you talk about the grid system in the game called the Order Grid?

Petter: This is the main mechanic of the game. You choose an order tile and place it into a space on the 3×3 grid. This is your primary order this turn. Now you must choose the horizontal or vertical line that intersects with the chosen primary order. If the line you choose has other order tiles you will also resolve them. This makes your turns more powerful over time and can make for some interesting combos. Some of the orders you can choose among are Evacuate, Rest, Inspire, Sabotage, Upgrade and Strategize.

Grant: What are the difficulties the player must deal with in the form of Stress, Morale and Threats?

Petter; Stress is something that the King will gain throughout the game. When the Stress Level is too high you will lose Willpower. Willpower is used to decline demands from the Germans each round. If the Willpower runs out you lose the game. After you lose Willpower the Stress Marker resets but it can never be lower than the current Threat Level, so it might not reset as low as before. Morale reflects the morale of your troops and population. You can also use morale to draw extra cards or be more efficient in your defense

Grant: How does the player manage these?

Petter: Stress is reduced by taking the Rest Order. Morale is increased by the Inspire Order and Threat is lowered by Discarding Cards.

Grant: What are the German Demands?

Petter: At the end of each round the Germans will send demands. They will for example demand that the King resign. You can choose to ignore this at an increasing cost or decline the demands but that costs Willpower and is a diminishing resource. Historically, Germany demanded that Norway cease all resistance and submit to a German military occupation. Specifically, they demanded that the Norwegian government allow German troops to land unopposed to establish naval bases, secure vital Swedish iron ore shipments, and prevent the Allies from using Norway as a battlefield.

Grant: How does the German bot work?

Petter: The Germans are controlled by the grid system. Their actions are placed around the 3×3 grid. When you choose and place your primary order the Germans will resolve their actions (which is framing the grid system) that intersect with the primary actions. Each action will resolve 1 time per revealed German symbol on the grid. It is a pretty cool system and I’m pretty pleased with it.

Grant: What type of challenge does it create?

Petter: Lots of challenges! Basically, when you place your orders you are deciding which actions you AND the Germans will take. It is quite a puzzle.

Grant: How is victory achieved?

Petter: You win by getting the King to freedom in the northern part of the map. This is the main goal. If, as part of the Evacuate action, you move the King into the space marked Freedom, you win the game. You must still complete the entire Evacuate action before you win the game though. Keep in mind that the game is very difficult to win, but if you do manage it and want to gauge your success, your score is equal to the number of Gold Reserve cards you have successfully evacuated.

Grant: What type of an experience does the game create?

Petter: I like to think it creates a stressful but thematic experience where you are making tough decisions while exploring the Norwegian countryside!

Grant: What are you most pleased about with the design?

Petter: I’m most pleased about the Grid Order system! But the Evacuation and Sabotage mechanics are pretty cool as well.

Grant: What other designs are you working on?

Petter: I have several WWII themed designs in various stages but it is too early to say what will happen next.

We were able to play a prototype copy of the game and very much enjoyed it. We played it cooperatively, even though the design is a solitaire game, and had a great time strategizing and considering our options together and were very impressed with the maturation of the game mechanics and flow of the game. Here is a link to our preview video from that experience: